Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo's July
2008 request to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest
warrant for President al Bashir of Sudan on charges of crimes against humanity,
war crimes and genocide sparked a firestorm of praise, criticism, anxiety,
and relief in equal measure among peacekeepers, aid workers, diplomats,
and human rights activists. Opponents of the Prosecutor's move argued that
it amounted to a call for regime-change and would imperil any future peace
negotiations and the still-incomplete deployment of peacekeepers.